Method of and apparatus for making liquid gas.



L. WOLF. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR. MAKING LIQUID GAS.

APPLICATION IILED DEC. 29, 1910.

Patented Aug. 15, 1911.

2 SHEETfl-SHEBT 1.

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L. WOLF.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING LIQUID GAS.

APPLICATION FILED D110. 29, 1910. 1,000,655.

Patented Aug. 15, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Zft f czmesses MAL/ UNITED STATES PATENT IJIJSITJ'Sv WOLF, OF ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNOB 110 SCHWEIZERISCHE FLUSSLIG- GASJAIBBIG L. WOLF A. G.. 0]? ZURICH. SWITZERLAND, A FIRM.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, LINUS WoLF, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, and resident. of

Zurich, in Switzerland, have invented an Improvement in Methods of and Apparatus ing so-called liquid gas and is in the na-- ture of an improvement on the method described and claimed in my Patent No. 928,729, July 20, 1909.

The term' liquid gas is used in the trade todesignate a liquefied-gas containing liquid hydrocarbon constituents of distillation gases which are entirely free from such constituents as can be liquefied at atmospheric pressure and at a comparatively low temperature, these latter constituents being somewhat in the nature of gasolene or naphtha. Liquid gas will remain in its lique fied' state so long as it is held under a heavy pressure, but when the pressure is reduced it will rapidly assume the gaseous form without leaving any liquid residue.

The characteristic features of liquid gas may be readily determined by reference to my aforesaid Patent No. 928,729. According to'the method disclosed in said patentfor manufacturing liquid gas, the distillation gases While at substantially atmospheric pressure are cooled to a marked degree sufficient 'to liquefy all those hydrocarbon constituents of the-distillation gases which include the easily-vaporizable liquid hydrocarbons, such as gasolene or naphtha, and then such liquefied constituents are separated from the remaining distillation ases and all of the liquefiable constituents o the latter are then liquefied thereby roducing the liquid gas. Inorder to liquef y and remove from the distillation gases t e easilyvaporizable liquid hydrocarbons, the apparatus shown in said patent comprises a'cooling device in which the distillation gases are cooled by the cooling effect due to the expansion and/vaporization of highly 'compressed vaporizable hydrocarbon in. liquid form, and after the cooling medium has done its work it is delivered to and com- 'mingled with the cooled-distillation gases. There is, however, more or-less cooling efi'ect' Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. Application filed December 29, 1810. Serial No, 599,947.

passed through the cooling apparatus, and

left in the cooling medium after has i inthe construction shown in' said patentthis v, coollng effect of the cooling medium is'lost.

. My present invention aims to provide an, lmproved process by which the maximumcooling effect can be secured by means ofthecooling medium, and I accomplish this, by introducing the cooling medium which has passed through and done its work in the cooling apparatus directlyv to the body of distillation gases before .or while the latterare being subjected to the cooling process,

so that the cooling medium by commingl-ing with the distillation gases augments the cooling-effect of the cooling apparatus.

The particular character/of the apparatus used in carrying out my improved process 1s not of any moment asthe-constructional details of the apparatus might be varied in many ways while still permitting the improved process tobe practiced.

In order to give a more complete under-- standing of the invention I have illustrated in the drawings one apparatus by which the process can be c-arrledout, but I wish i it understood, however, that the process is not confined in its use to an apparatus such as illustrated.

Before describing the rocess in detail, I

will refer briefly'to the i1 ustra'ted apparatus which in many. respects is similar to the apparatus shown and described in my Patent Figure 1-- is a diagrammatic viewof the apparatus as a whole; Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the .cooler. v o

1 designates aretort which is associated ,with a suitable furnace 2 and in-which distillation gases. may be produced in wellknown way from crude o1l petroleum, bitumen, or other similar raw material. The distillation gases produced in the retort are taken through a pipe 3 into a tank or recome liquefied inthe cooler becoming sepaa point sufiicient to liquefy the remaining" constituents thereotwith the exception of the permanent gases. I find in-iiractictT-that.

a pressure of 1500 pounds is suificient for this purpose. The compressed gases are led from the compressor through a cooling coil 13 located in a cooler 14 and in which they become liquefied, such gases passing from the cooler through a pipe 15 to a tank or container 16 in which the liquid gas collects. The liquid gas is led from the container 16 through a pipe 17 to a receptacle 18 in which it maybe transported.

19 is a gasometer connected by a. pipe 20. with-the pipe 1T, said gasometer acting as a.

balance'to control the pressure. The operation of the parts thus far described is the same as that of the correspond ingparts in my above-mentioned patent and a further description thereof is not necessary.

There are in distillation gases certain constituents known commonly 'as permanent gases and which are extremely hard to liquefy. "Such permanent gases areftaken fromthe container 16 through a pipe 21 to an auxiliary container 22 which latter is connected with a coil 23 adapted to contain gasolene or other carbureting hydrocarbon. This gasolene is shown asbeing delivered to the coil from a tank or'other source of supply 24 by meansof a pump 25. As a result the auxiliary container 22 will be filled with this gasolene. The permanent gases which are delivered through the pipe 21 carry with thema certain proportion of'the hydrocarbon constituents properly belon 'ng with the liquid gas, and these are washed out from the permanent gases as they pass through the gasolene or other carbureting oil. The

unliquefied gases may be finally delivered through a pipe 26' to a gasometer. or any other suitab e receptacle.

, 27 is a pipe connecting with the bottom of the auxiharycontainer 22 and extending to the cooling device by which the distillation gases are cooled, a portion of said pipe referably being formedinto a cooling C011 28 situated in the cooler 14.

The cooling apparatus 7 is best seen in Fig. 2 and it comprises three cooling chambers, although this construction is not at all essential to the. carrying out ofimy process. The first cooling chamber is shown at 30 and it is situated within a casing 31 in. which the cooling medium circulates so that the cooling medium entirely surrounds the cooling chamber 30. The pipe 6 leads into the lower end of the chamber 30 so that the distillation gases pass upwardly through said chamber, as shown by the arrow, and

said chamber will preferably be provided with bathe-plates 32 to retard the fiowof gas. The upper end of the chamber 30 is connected bya pipe 33 with a chamber'34, and the'lower end of the chamber 34 is connected by a pipe 35 with another cooling chamber 36 similar to the cooling chamber 130, said chamber 36 being connected at Its upper end with the pipe 9 which leads to the purifier. The cooling chamber 36 is situated inside of a casing 37 to which the pipe'27 .is-connected at .its upper end thereby to-deliver-the cooling medium thereto. The cas-- ing 37 is connected at its lower 'end bya pipe 38 with a-chamber 39 situated within the chamber 34, the u per ends of the chamber 39 being connecte by a. pipe 40 with the interior of the casing 31.- The pipe 27 has a valve Al therein to control the flow of the coolin medium therethrough. I

vIn t 1e operation of the device when the valve 41 is opened more-or less thehighlycompressed gasolene or other carbureting oil in the auxiliary container-22, which 011 has some of the permanent gases com-' pressed therein, is delivered to the casing 37 wherein-it expands and vaporizes, thus producing a marked cooling .efi'ect on the gases passing. through the cooling chamber The cooling medium in the casing 37 continues to pass through the chamber 39 and into the casing 31, and during its passage there is a constant expansion and vaporization thereof; and a consequent cooling effect produced. The flow of the cooling medium is in an "opposite direction to that of the distillation gases and vthe cooling effect produced by this apparatus is sufficient to reduce the temperature of the distillation gases in the cooling chambers 30, 34 and 36 toa point Where the easily-vaporizable liquid hydrocarbons, such, for instance, as gasolene or naphtha, become liquefied, such liquefied constituents draining out through the lower open "ends of the cooling chambers into the vessels 8. The result is that the distillation ases which are delivered from the cooler through the pipe 9, and which form the basis of liquid gas, are entirely free from these easily 'vaporizable liq uid hydrocarbons.

The process'thus far described is similar in all its essential features to'the process described in my aforesaid patent. In said patent, however, the gaseous'portioncf the cooling medium after passing through'the in the cooler 7, there is still considerable cooling virtue left therein, and by the present invention I providejfor making use of this in such a way that the cooling effect of the cooler 7 may be augmented thereby. I secure this end by delivering the cooling medium which has passed through the cooler directly to the distillation gases at the time that the latter are delivered to the cooler. This may1 be easily accomplished by providing the c amber 30 with. apertures at its lower end within the casing 31 so that after the cooling medium has passed downwardly in said casing, as shown by the arrow, the gaseous portion thereof will pass through the apertures 45 I into the chamber 30, in which chamber the'cooling' medium becomes commingled with the dis- .tillation' gases. After the cooling medium, 20" "temperature of the distillation gases so far therefore, has done its work in reducing the as this is possible where the cooling medium is passi through a different chamher from the distillation gases, said cooling medium is delivered directly to the distillationlgases before the latter are subjected to the cooling process, and the commingling of this cooling medium with the distillation gases produces an additional cooling efl'ect which is of great advantage in the carrying out of the process.

-My improvement is especially useful in starting up plants for the production of liquid gas.

As stated above, the apparatus em loyed for carrying out my'improvement, tii the particular way in which the cooling medium is delivered to the distillaton gases after the former has done its work in the cooler, is not essential to the invention, although the ap aratus herein shown is a practical and e cient one for this purpose.

at is,

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters vPatent is 1. The recess of makinga liquefied gas from distillation gases which consists in cooling the distillation gases by subjecting them-to the cooling effect due to the expansion and vaporization of highly-compressed vaporizable hydrocarbon fluid and then introducingthe expanded and vaporized hydrocarbon into the distillation gases to be cooled-before the latter are subjected to the cooling process.

' 2. The method of making liquid gas which consists in passing distillation gases through a cooling chamber, subjecting said distillation gases while passing through said chamber to the cooling effect due to the expansion and vaporization of highly-comhas-been used for cooling the gas to the distillation gases before the latter are subjected to the cooling operation.-

In testimony whereof, I have signed .my

name to this specification, in the presence of two subscrlblng witnesses.

LINUS WOLF.

Witnesses LENNART AKESSON, ARTHUR J. BUNDY. 

